Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

Norm Wakefield
  • 5.0 (19)
  • RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY
  • UPDATED DAILY

Podcast by Norm Wakefield

  1. 10H AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.6

    John 13:6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" We might think that Simon Peter knew better than to question anything Jesus did, but obviously not. Why did John refer to him as Simon Peter? Jesus had given Simon a new name after he confessed that Jesus was the son of God (Matt. 16:16-17). Simon was his flesh identifier, and Peter was his new kingdom identifier. Maybe it’s because in this story, we see both identities surfacing. This response is a “Simon” response—looking at things from a fleshly self-conscious perspective. Is there some Simon in us? Of course there is. Do we think we don’t deserve or need to be served by Jesus? Do we think our feet aren’t dirty from walking in this world today? It not only took humility for Jesus to serve His disciples, it also took humility for them to receive His love. For a reason about which we can only speculate, Simon had a problem with Jesus’ expression of love. Jesus, do You wash my feet? The correct response, it seems, would have been for Peter to say nothing and humbly receive Jesus’ ministry to him. Jesus is still washing His disciples feet today as He lives to love in them. As His disciples, we need to humbly receive His love through our brothers and sisters in Christ and we have the privilege to humbly encourage those who are His on a daily basis. I hope that’s what’s happening this very moment as you listen or read this live to love with Jesus podcast. Jesus, do you wash my feet? Yes, please do! Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    2 min

  2. 1D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.5

    John 13:5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Imagine a days worth of dust on each foot. It was a daily task of perhaps the lowest servant in the average home. Apparently this task had been overlooked by the event planner, but it was the will of the Father for His Son to exemplify His love in a way that foreshadowed what He wanted them (and us) to do to one another—serve one another by loving with Him. In the same way their feet got covered with dirt as they walked in this world, so did their souls get dirtied each day by living in this world. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). Like Jesus, in humility, lowliness, gentleness, and passion for the glory of God, we can serve each other in love. It’s one way Jesus will love His own to the very end. So put on His towel and be prepared today to serve—that is, encourage, forgive, and pray the blood of Jesus over whoever He puts in your path. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    2 min

  3. 2D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.3-4

    John 13:3-4 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Love humbled Himself to take the lowly role of a servant. The robe which would later belong to a Roman soldier was now exchanged for a towel. No pride. No vanity. No show. Before them stood the glorious creator and sustainer of the universe, the Lord God most high, the Almighty Father wrapped in a towel. What humility, lowliness, gentleness, and passion! This is Life, the light of men, shining in the darkness. This life and light lives in all who are His. He moves all who live to love with Him in the same way. Have we girded ourselves with His towel today? Humility. Lowliness. Gentleness. And Passion. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    1 min

  4. 3D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.3

    John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, From the previous verses we learned that Jesus knew His time to depart was at hand, He loved His own, and that intense suffering, grief, rejection, and shame was imminent. In this verse we learn that He also knew that all things necessary for Him to do the Father’s will were at His disposal and that in a matter of hours He would behold the joyful, loving, glorious face of His Father in heaven. With these things in mind He wanted His disciples (and us) to see what the humility-born love of His Father looks like in sandals. The same knowledge that Jesus had (listen or read this carefully), we have to motivate us to live to love with Him. Our time is short. We expect to suffer. We have everything we need to do the Father’s will. We will see our Father’s glowing face soon. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    1 min

  5. 4D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.2

    John 13:2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, In verse one, we learned that Jesus knew His time was short and was motivated by His enduring love for His own. In this verse we learn the setting: it was during supper and the betrayer, Judas, inspired by Satan, was primed and ready to act. Judas did not belong to Jesus. Can Judas say truthfully that the devil made him do it? No. The devil put the idea in his heart, and he chose to do it. Let’s be careful that we don’t blame others or the devil for our choices. Even so, this is the work of God and it is marvelous in our eyes! Judas was necessary for God’s love to be revealed and known. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    1 min

  6. 5D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 13.1

    John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. In this verse and the next 2 verses John tells us what Jesus knew that motivated Him to wash His disciples feet. In this verse we learn that Jesus knew His time had come to depart from this world. It is interesting to me that John didn’t write that Jesus knew it was time to die. He is the resurrection and the life. Even though He may die in this world, yet shall He live to God. So Jesus was thinking that He was in His last hours with them. We also learn that He was moved by His enduring love for them. This reminds us that our time with those we love is short and that we have the same love in us that Jesus had. So when we love with Him today we are sustaining His love for His own to the very end of time. What a mission! What purpose! What a privilege! What glory to God! Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    2 min

  7. 6D AGO

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 12.50

    John 12:50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me." The words God commanded Jesus to speak, namely, that He is Life and the Light of the world sent by God to save us from the darkness of thinking that merely breathing in our bodies and pursuing satisfaction in this world is life, are the words of eternal life. They reveal what eternal life is! To know the Father and to know the Son is to know by experience the Life of God. Do you recognize that if you believe in and receive Jesus as the one and only Life—the source of life—then you have eternal life living in you! And you know you have it because God commanded Jesus to give it to you. Jesus prayed to His Father recorded in John 17:1-3. “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Have you believed God’s testimony that Jesus is His Life sent into the world to deliver you from the darkness and death of the natural self-life in this world? It’s actually easy to tell. You live to love with Jesus everyone He puts in your path for His glory. Listen to what John wrote in his first epistle. “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:14-16). Such is the judgment of God revealed in Jesus, whose love is the light of Life. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    2 min

  8. MAR 7

    Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 12.49

    John 12:49 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” The reasons these words that Jesus spoke will judge all men is that they were given Him by the Father. God commanded Jesus to say and speak these things. Therefore, to reject these words amounts to rejecting Jesus, which is the same thing as rejecting God, Himself. When Jesus said if you love your life in this world, you will lose it, and if you recognize that Jesus is Life and therefore hate your life in this world, your life will be saved from darkness, those words judge all men, because it is obvious what they believe. If they love their lives in this world, that is, think that expressing themselves to gain approval and significance in this world satisfies them, then they are dead and in darkness. If they love Jesus and think that gaining His approval and making Him significant by loving and loving with Him, then the judgment is that they have Life and walk in the Light just as He was in the Light. What is the judgment of these words about our lives? We are meant to ask that question because that was the question Jesus intended this crowd to ask themselves. We are being judged by these words everyday. There is no escape from them. They search us and declare the truth. Living to love with Jesus is the evidence that you believe the words which Jesus spoke on this day to the crowd, that they were from God. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

    2 min
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Podcast by Norm Wakefield

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